Serfdom came to an end and drastic economic reforms were implemented. Raskolnikov’s home of St. Petersburg, once upon a time capital of Russia, represents the confusing mood that was felt throughout the country. His habitat is described as confined, depressing, stuffy and violent. Often, Raskolnikov’s mood and behaviors are parallel with the ... ... middle of paper ... ... end of the novel confesses to the crime. Dostoevsky purposefully chooses to have him confess in the end to demonstrate a lesson in humanity: that we are all human, have a conscious and are most often inexplicably driven by emotions.
One must however bear in mind that unrest in Petrograd, almost irrespective of the rest of Russia, was enough to cause the collapse of autocracy. One cannot see the unrest in the capital as symptomatic of a wider national movement. The movement was of a unique scale and extremism in Petrograd. By the end of 1915 popular fervour f... ... middle of paper ... ...2 - 1992, 4th ed., 1993, Oxford, p.226 - 227 [7] Burzhalov, Russia's Second Revolution, p.72 - 73 [8] Read, C, From Tsar to Soviets, the Russian People and Their Revolution, 1996, London, p.35 [9] Diakin, VS, 'The Leadership Crisis in Russia on the Eve of the February Revolution', in Soviet Studies in History, 1984;23, (1), p.13 10 ibid., p.12 [11] Hasegawa, p.613 [12] Smith, SA, 'Petersburg in 1917: The View from Below, in Kaiser, DH (ed. ), revolution in russia, 1917 The View from Below, 1987, Cambridge p.62 13Longley, DA, 'The Mezhraionka, The Bolsheviks and International Women's Day.
By transforming Russia into a modern democratic state, he also made his opposition more active and demanding, especially since they saw the power of the monarch decrease gradually in the western countries. Their protests became more politically motivated and some, such as the Bolsheviks even called for the collapse of Tsarism. Alexander responded to this with further repression, for example, the execution of the Vyborg in 1907. The pessimist school of History agrees that revolution was inevitable since Tsar Nicholas became more counter-productive further into his reign.
Turgenev The Great Reforms of the 1860's generated an era of social and economic turmoil in Russia. These unstable times spawned the growth of a radical intellectual group known as, the intellegencia. These new reformers or radicals were the sons and daughters of the heads of Russia. They wished to sweep away the assumptions of the romantic generation of the 1840's that "refused to accept the supremacy of reason over emotion" (Kishlanksy, Geary and O'Brien: 755) and any other non-scientifically proven truths of social, political, emotional and spiritual life in Russia. They rejected all common assumptions about serfdom, the foundations of Russian hierarchy, and its reform, including all of its social and economic ramifications.
The system of imperialism as a whole, had ripen for social revolutions of the new type – proletariat. As a result of unequal distribution of wealth and social cataclysms of post-war periods paved the way for breaking the chain of imperialism. Russia appeared to be that weak link in the chain of imperialism. The Russian Revolution influenced Western World to change, infecting working class to revolt globally against imperialism, the crisis of colonialism had started. Russian Revolution of October 1917 was the child of the antagonism of classes in contradictory imperialism.
Abraham Ascher quotes P.N. Miliukov in an explanation of representative disorder wit... ... middle of paper ... ...the turn of the 20th century. The immediate hardships forced upon the population by the autocracy through the Russo-Japanese War served as a catalyst for the growing reaction of the Russian people to their oppressive reality. The 1905 Revolution was an event instigated because of oppressive domestic policy and the inability of an autocracy to effectively represent and govern 129 million people. Bibliography: Bibliography Abraham Ascher, The Revolution of 1905: Russia in Disarray (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988) David Floyd, Russia in Revolt (London: Macdonald & Co., 1969) Sidney Harcave, First Blood: The Russian Revolution of 1905 (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1965) Thomas Riha, ed., Readings in Russian Civilization, Vol II: Imperial Russia 1700-1917.
During the twentieth century, Soviet Russia lived under Stalin’s brutal and oppressive governments, which was necessary for Stalin to retain power. In both cases, brutality and oppression led to an absence of relationships and love. This love was directed towards Stalin and Big Brother, and human beings became willing servants of their leader. The biggest threat to any totalitarian regime is love, or the lack of it. As Orwell said, they key danger to the system is “the growth of liberalism and skepticism in their own ranks” (Orwell 171).
Lenin and Problems After the October Revolution The initial difficulties faced by the new Soviet Union were to severe that its survival seemed almost miraculous. The remains of the czarist regime left Lenin to face a country wrought with war, devastated economically. Russia's involvement in World War I, followed by its Civil War, wide spread famine and a change in political and social ideology were the problems confronting Lenin after the October Revolution. Lenin did succeed in ending both the war with Germany and the Civil War for Russia. Yet, the economic and social aspects of the revolution can be more critically assessed.
The Russian Revolution, as one of the greatest events in history showed to the world how relations between classes can affect even a revolution. When a revolution begins, sometimes it is not possible to control it. In some cases, it turns out to be somethign different than we wanted it to be. By using the example of the Russian Revolution, one could explain what happens when upper and lower class clash. In this case, when the lower class managed to overthrow the ruling class, the tide of the revolution did not stop, it required the entire process of reforms and changes to happen in order to stop the riots.
The first twenty years of the nineteenth century for Russia was such a time in which change and inconsistency were consistent. At the turn of the century, Nicholas II was struggling to keep power as aristocracy was losing it control over Russia. As serfdom was dying due to the emancipation, the lower class was rising for more representation. And while these two conflicting movements are happening, a world war was on the brink. In V.V.